GIOVANNI VILLANI (1347)

Chronicler whose European attitude to history foreshadowed Humanism.

In 1300 Villani became a partner in the banking firm of Peruzzi for which he travelled to Rome (1300-01) where he negotiated with the pope and to France, Switzerland and Flanders (1302-07).
In 1308 back in Italy he left the Peruzzi company.

He took an active part in Florentine life and three times (1316,1317 and 1321) was appointed head of a guild.
He was prosecuted for embezzlement but was found innocent.
In 1345 he was involved in the bankruptcy of the Bardi and other companies and was imprisoned but released on bail.

He died during the plague of 1348.

His Cronica or Storia fiorentina is a vast and ambitious universal history in 12 books.
It was planned as a history of events from the fall of the Tower of Babel to Villani´s own time seen from and focussed on Florence.
Villani began the work in about 1308.
The most interesting part covers the period 1266-1346.
The chronicle presents events in annalistic form with little or no attempt to provide a synthesis and despite its author´s aim at accuracy and objectivity the work´s scope made confusions and contradictions inevitable.
On Florentine history Villani achieved considerable impartiality, although a supporter of the Guelfs, he was not partisan in his views and reflected the outlook of the wealthy borghesi or bourgeoisie of the time.
His style is plain and tends to monotony.
When dealing with the events and personalities of contemporary Florence he could be lively and his work is of particular value for its inclusion of detailed statistical information on the administration and finance of the Florence of his own time. Its is the first introduction of statistics as a positive element in history.
For the purity of its Florentine vocabulary the Cronica is considered a classic of the Italian language.

After Giovanni´s death his brother Matteo added 10 books to the Cronica covering the years 1348-63. Matteo´s son Filippo added another book for the year 1364.

The Cronica widely known before its completion was popular.
A first edition (incomplete) was published in Venice in 1537.
The first complete edition was published in Florence in 1559.
It was included in Muratori´s Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (1728).